


Pool of Siloam

by yuletide_archivist



Category: RCN Series - David Drake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-19
Updated: 2003-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 08:25:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1641338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adele gets an invitation to a natural hot spring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pool of Siloam

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Maureen O'Brien

 

 

Pool of Siloam 

Adele Mundy frowned at the invitation Tovera had given her. The Erzbisofin Madoc had requested her company for a session at the so-called Healing Springs. Since the Erzbisofin was their hostess, turning her down was not an option. And attending the Springs naked was not an option either, at least not in the Erzbisofin's company. 

"Well, Tovera, I'll have to send you shopping for a swimsuit for me," Adele said. 

The pale woman shook her head. "No need, Mistress Mundy." She opened up a box. "Erzbisofin Madoc already took care of it for you." 

Adele raised her eyebrows at the contents of the box; one red maillot, and one navy blue two-piece swimsuit that wouldn't cover that much of Adele's slight body. "I suppose it would be too much to ask for the true Mundy colors," she muttered. _And what was the Erzbisofin doing buying swimsuits from one of the most expensive shops on this planet?_ At least, Adele assumed it was so. The Erzbisofin or her servants had been very thorough. The box was plain and unlabeled; no tags had been left on the clothing; no receipt for the purchase had been left in the box; but the condition and type of the fabric screamed new and expensive, even to someone as ignorant of fashion as Adele. And these weren't the Erzbisofin's, or Adele would eat her data unit. The Erzbisofin was a tall woman, much taller than Adele. She was almost as tall as Woetjans, but not as bulky. These looked like they would have fit the Erzbisofin when she was a child, or Adele now. 

The time for the visit to the Healing Springs came at last. Adele's eyes widened as she stepped into the bathers' hall. She had never seen anything like this. It was dark and warm, with the sulfur smell of the hot spring that welled up from the depths here. 

"Hello, Mistress Mundy," a thin, tall woman in a black garment said. Adele noted with some resentment that the Erzbisofin's black bathing gear sensibly covered the older woman's shoulders and midriff and went down almost to her knees. "What do you think of the Goddess's gift?" 

Adele tried to keep herself from snorting at the thought of a mere hot spring being a gift of any god or goddess. Her mouth must have twitched, because the Erzbisofin gave her a look as though she were a naughty child. Adele first dipped her head under that cold gray gaze, but then stared the older woman straight in the face. _I am a Mundy of Chatsworth, and I will not let any foreigner rebuke me and my beliefs, or lack thereof._

The Erzbisofin nodded at her. "Come sit in the water, Mistress Mundy, and let the heat soak into your bones." Adele warily trailed the woman into the hot water. The older woman sat down in the water, and Adele followed suit. The bathing pool had steps cut into its floor that were quite large enough for anyone to sit down upon. 

The Erzbisofin let out a contented sigh as she submerged herself more deeply in the water. Adele realized that the old woman must be tired - up at all hours praying and performing strange rituals, constantly in motion when she wasn't on her knees, and always in a clammy, under-heated building - Adele shivered. At least the RCN took care of its own. And at least naval quarters were heated well enough under normal circumstances. As a child, she had never been cold except when she wished to be...Adele frowned at the memory of her parents in Chatsworth Minor. 

"Is anything wrong, Mistress Mundy?" the Erzbisofin asked. 

Adele replied, "Only old memories, Madame." 

"Mmm." The Erzbisofin gave Adele a sharp look, and then said, "The legends of old said that sitting in this pool could ease the pain of any memory one had." 

Adele stood up instantly. "I do not wish to forget any of my memories, Madame!" 

The Erzbisofin sighed. "Not forget, Mistress Mundy. But to face the memories, to face the sorrow and pain, and let the wounds heal." 

Adele glared at the woman. 

"Have you forgotten anything since you sat down?" 

Adele shook her head. 

The woman reached out a hand to her. "Please sit down, Mistress Mundy. I have been coming to this pool every week since I was a girl." 

Adele considered this information. The Erzbisofin seemed to have a memory that was all too sharp and keen. Adele lowered herself back into the water again, this time making sure that she was only submerged to her shoulders. 

The Erzbisofin looked at her with those cold gray eyes, and asked her, "What do you not wish to forget, Mistress Mundy?" 

"My parents," Adele whispered. "My sister. All the people dead from my gun or my order." 

The Erzbisofin gently set a hand on Adele's shoulder. "Let yourself mourn them. It is right and proper to." 

Adele's eyes were stinging from the sulfur in the water, they must have been. How else to explain the tears coming down her cheeks? And where was that keening moan coming from? 

Daniel was taken aback at the sight that confronted him in the bathing room at the Healing Spring. Adele was actually crying. "What happened, Adele? What did she do to you?" 

The old woman holding Adele looked up at him. "Mister Leary, my questions are what you and your people, what your family, what Cinnabar has done to her?" 

"It's all right, Daniel," Adele said to him. Adele's face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were swollen and red, but there was a peace in them that had never been there in all the years Daniel had known her. Adele stepped out of the water to meet him. She went into Daniel's arms as naturally as if she had been born to it, and then shivered as the cold air hit her. 

Daniel felt her shiver, and suddenly he was aware of her thoughts, as much as he was aware of his ship. Pain, sorrow, and rage over the death of her parents and her sister Agatha. Shame over her inaction at the Collections, and her collusion with the Alliance spies. Guilt over the deaths at her hand, and the constant fear that she would lose her soul as Tovera had. 

And yet, underneath all the chill and the dark clouds, a blazing white fire at her core, that Adele herself was not even aware of. Her drive for competence and excellence in her work, her loyalty to her shipmates, to the RCN, and to him. And her love for him, that had burned through all the dark clouds and was drawing her back to life and the light. _She has chosen the world, after all, and not a cloister or the library. Let me pull her all the way back into shore..._ He bent his head, not too far, and kissed her on the lips. 

 


End file.
